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MR. STANKOVIĆ: SOUTH SERBIA STABLE

6. February 2017.

Belgrade – Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, said that the situation in South Serbia was stable, that regular activities were being undertaken by the local self-governments and competent governmental bodies and that there were no signs of deterioration of the situation.

“Regular activities are being undertaken by the local self-governments and competent governmental bodies, as it was demonstrated by the meeting held between the representatives of local self-governments of the three municipalities and the Coordination Body, "Mr. Stankovic said following a session of the Coordination Body’s Presidency, during which the distribution of the funds to the said municipalities from this year's budget was considered.

“The total budget for these three municipalities is 261 million dinars and it has been increased,  this year, by 5.2 million dinars of transfer funds. The budget does not include additional funding that the Coordination Body provides to the three municipalities in the form of 415 primary and secondary school student scholarships, university student scholarships and various subsidies," Mr. Stanković said, adding that the agreement on the distribution of transfer funds to the said municipalities had not been struck yet.

Mr. Stankovic stated that 96 per cent of the last year’s budget had been realized and that the funds were spent as planned.

He said that the talks on seven points that were discontinued in 2013, which related to all segments of life, from health care, through education, to justice, would be resumed.

Sciprim Arifi, the Mayor of Presevo, said that the increase in the budget was good news for the southern Serbian municipalities, but that it could not be said that it was sufficient, considering the needs of the three municipalities that were among the least developed ones in Serbia.

“An increase of six million dinars shows good will and is a good sign, but it does not cover all our needs,” Mr. Arifi said, stating that he was satisfied with the increased percentage of allocations.

Saip Kamberi, the Mayor of Bujanovac, voiced satisfaction with the distribution of subsidies to the local private businesses in Bujanovac and Presevo.

"It is essential that there is an increase in the budget for investments, but it is necessary to provide more funds in the next year’s budget for the least developed municipalities, where the unemployment rate is over 60 percent," Mayor Kamberi said.

Nebojsa Arsic, the Mayor of Medvedja, said that the meeting was held in a cheerful atmosphere, that the plan of distribution of this year’s transfer funds had been discussed and that an agreement on it would be reached soon.  .

Source: “Tanjug”, “Beta” and “FoNet” news agencies, “Politika” daily and Coordination Body